The Sword in the Fountain
by CouldULiveLikeMe
Summary: A tower, an expedition gone wrong, an attack from androids. How will the Doctor and Sam get out of this?


The expedition group of 7 people arrived at the base of the tower. O'Donnell, a dark-haired man with an aged face muttered to himself, "I've got a bad feeling about this."

The leader of the group, Radnor, a woman with a bright blonde ponytail thumped his leg, "Don't be so pessimistic. Everything is going to be okay."

"I'm not sure. Something about this place gives me the feeling of death…" he furrowed his brow and thought this over.

Radnor sighed exasperatedly, "Let's just go in."

She opened the door and waited for the rest of the group to step in before her. Inside the tower was something none of them had expected to see - a 1960s London police box. The door opened and a man stepped out. He was tall, wearing a leather jacket over a tacky brown suit. A mop of untidy black hair sat incongruously at the top of his head. A teenage boy came out from behind the man, he was wearing denim jeans and a tight-fitting t-shirt.

The unruly man smiled disarmingly at the group and stepped forward, hand outstretched, "Hello everyone, I'm the Doctor. Very nice to meet you!"

Nobody accepted the hand. He set it down nervously before clearing his throat and patting the teenager on the shoulder, "And this is my young friend, Sam. Now that you know who we are, perhaps I can ask - Who might you be and what is this place?"

"We're an expedition group," said Radnor, "This planet is mysteriously uninhabited despite there being constructions like this everywhere. Many of the buildings have minerals that our people use to power our spaceships."

The Doctor looked troubled by this information, "Uninhabited…" he muttered to himself.

"Looks like we'll be heading home soon though. Our tools have been disappearing."

"Oh, dear. That's not very nice. Maybe Sam and I can help you find them," he shot a smile at Sam, then went straight-faced again when Sam didn't return the smile.

"I'm afraid it's not that simple. For all I know, you could have stolen them."

"I suppose you do have a point."

The sound of steady footsteps could be heard from the distance.

"More of your expedition?"

"No."

They swivelled around to see that they were being surrounded by silver featureless humanoids with smooth movements. Androids. They all raised their hands at the group. The hands turned red and flared out. Everyone dived out of the way. They were being attacked!

Sam dived further than intended and landed in a fountain. He saw a sword in the fountain and wondered why that would be there. He reached towards the handle and was surprised that it felt warm. The water in the fountain suddenly turned violent. He found himself crashing back onto the ground. He stared dazedly at the water, trying to figure out what had just happened to him.

The members of the expedition reached into their pockets for handguns and opened fire surreptitiously upon the androids. There was no reaction from the androids.

The Doctor grabbed Radnor's arm and stared deeply into her face. "Order them to retreat," he said coldly. She nodded and yelled out, "Fall back!"

The group took to their feet and paced as fast as they could, leaving the androids behind. They ran onto a lift which took them up. The androids stared after them emotionlessly.

After getting off the lift Radnor barked at the expedition group, "Keep a close eye on those two!" pointing at the Doctor and Sam with her gun.

"But we haven't done anything!" Sam whined.

"It doesn't matter. I don't have any evidence of that so I'm not taking any chances."

The lift came back up again and the androids stepped out carrying a large device. They set the device down and a timer began to count down from 30. Sam climbed over a balcony and landed in the fountain on the floor below. He reached for the sword once again and held it firmly. He could see strange characters inscribed on the sword. For some reason the TARDIS wasn't translating them. The water began to turn violent again. He held himself close to the sword to ensure that he wouldn't lose it. The water spat him upwards savagely and he went straight back to the upper floor. He fell down and momentarily his grip on the sword loosened. One of the androids picked it up. The androids departed collectively with the sword.

O'Donnell ran towards the bomb and opened the casing. A jolt of lightning came out and killed him.

"O'Donnell!" Radnor shouted, rushing over to his body to check his pulse. She shed a tear. The bomb had some sort of defence mechanism.

The Doctor reached into his inside jacket pocket and brandished his sonic screwdriver. He pointed it at the bomb and activated it. Nothing happened.

"Run!" he called, frantically shaking his arms and heading out. Radnor held him back, "Wait." She opened a bag to reveal several jetpacks. The Doctor nodded to her and took one of them. The rest of the group took jetpacks for themselves. They fled the building right as the bomb went off. Glass went flying everywhere and the tower collapsed. The Doctor looked down at the rubble, a grave look on his face. Some of the rubble began to move. It was pushed aside by androids, unscathed by the collapse.

"Doctor! Isn't there some way we can get the androids to attack each other?" asked Sam.

"Splendid idea, Sam!" He waddled into the centre of the androids and called, "Come and get me you stupid machines!" They fired off their hand guns and the Doctor ducked down, narrowly avoiding being hit. The androids hit each other and exploded in a glory of fireworks.

Radnor approached the Doctor, "Good job," she said.

"Oh, you don't need to thank me," said the Doctor, "It was Sam's clever idea to use their weapons against each other. I merely put it into action.

"Yes, you're right," she turned to Sam, "Well done," she then turned back to the Doctor, "It's just a shame about O'Donnell. He would have loved that trick!"

"Well, I hope we've done his memory proud!"

A couple of hours later, the Doctor and Sam stood with the expedition group while Radnor officiated a funeral service in commemoration of O'Donnell.


End file.
